Herald Blogs

Searching the world for bargain wines

All the surveys say Americans are drinking no less wine in these hard economic times, but we're looking for cheaper ones. Cheaper, but just as good. OK, so we want it all. One proven strategy is to look to lesser-known winemaking regions: the Loire Valley instead of Burgundy; Croatia instead of Germany; South Africa instead of California. South Africa, for example, has for centuries made white chenin blanc. They call it "steen.'' It's grown very little in the rest of the world, and when well-made it can be crisp and fruity. Since it's not a hot commodity, it can be cheap, too. Like South Africa's other popular white, sauvignon blanc, it benefits from cool weather and fog blowing up from Antarctica. Also emerging is an even lesser-known red wine called pinotage. Created in South Africa in 1925 as a cross between pinot noir and cinsault, it had a rocky debut on the world stage because when poorly made it smelled of acetone. “Spray paint wine,'' it was called.Now, however, South Africans have discovered its secret: Pick it a little less ripe and it loses the acetone and takes on a nice flavor of black raspberries and mulberries. Americans are becoming increasingly familiar with Latin American value wines. In fact, U.S. wine imports from Argentina grew 35 percent between 2008 and 2009. Many wine fans say we should snap up these bargains before Argentine winemakers realize what they have and jack up the prices. That's especially true of malbec. In France, it's a hard-as-nails grape added to Bordeaux blends to give them tannic backbone and deeper color. In Argentina's warm sun, malbec softens into pretty blends of sweet cherries and milk chocolate. Argentina's Finca La Linda line is by Bodega Luigi Bosca, owned by a family that moved from Spain to Mendoza in the 1890s. It makes wine in several price ranges. When times are better, we will write about their pricier wares.

TrackBack

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

On the topic of South African wines, I recently discovered a really wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon /Cinsault blend (Westerland's 2008 Celebration vintage). While it has the classic South African nose (tar), it is uncharacteristically smooth on the palate, the Cabernet cutting the smokiness of the Cinsault and making the wine more approachable.

South American wines (particularly those from Argentina) are indeed quickly becoming major players on the world stage within the wine arena. We're hearing from an increasing number of members who have really gone crazy for South American wines, and we have offered a number in the recent months, namely of the Malbec, Tannat, Bonarda, and Cabernet varietals.